Media Reform Project

The Media Reform program, under the Democracy in the Digital Age Program, seeks to preserve the freedom and independence of Israeli media in the face of growing stresses on the business model of traditional journalism and mounting pressures from government regulators and special interests. It is guided by the belief that an independent press is essential to a vibrant democracy and an engaged and informed civil society. The team works to advise policymakers and opinion shapers on these issues, shape new media regulations, and promote a code of journalistic ethics for the age of digital media.

Recent efforts have been directed at helping officials design Israel's new broadcasting authority, reforming Israel's censorship regulations, developing a new code of journalistic ethics for the information age and proposing measures to boost transparency and limit subliminal advertising.

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    Dr. Tehilla Shwartz Altshuler

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    tehilla@idi.org.il

    Dr. Tehilla Shwartz Altshuler is a senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute and head of the institute’s Media Reform Program and Democracy in the Digital Age Program.

    She holds a doctorate in law (LLD) from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and completed her post-doctoral studies at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. 

    She is a board member of the Israel National Press Council, a board member of the Israeli Digital Rights Movement, a board member of the Center for Ethics in Jerusalem and a member of the Supreme Council of Archives of the State of Israel.

    In recent years, Dr. Shwartz Altshuler has composed the journalistic code of ethics for Israel’s public broadcasting corporation (“Kan”) and for the Globes business newspaper; drafted a bill for a new privacy law in Israel; and appeared regularly in the Israeli and international media on issues relating to media, technology, democracy, and human rights. She has also published a number of books, articles, policy studies, and expert opinions on these subjects.

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    Dr. Rachel Aridor-Hershkovitz

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    rachela@idi.org.il

    Senior Researcher in the Democracy in the Digital Age program at the Center for Democratic Values and Institutions at IDI. Holds a Master’s degree in Intellectual Property and Antitrust Law from the NYU School of Law, and a PhD from the Faculty of Law at the University of Haifa. Her doctoral dissertation examined the most suitable regulatory tools for cybersecurity protection, based on a comparison of regulations in the United States and England, and an in-depth study of the need for public-private sector cooperation and how to achieve it.

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    Dr. Asaf Wiener

    Research Associate

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    Dr. Guy Lurie

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    guyl3@idi.org.il

    Dr. Guy Lurie is an attorney and holds a PhD in History from Georgetown University (2013). He a former coordinator of the Shamgar Commission for the Formulation of Rules of Ethics for Members of the Government, and served as a post-doctoral fellow on the Faculty of Law at the University of Haifa.